John Steinbeck crossed the land with Charley in 1960 . I ride to Louisville last month , from Pennsylvania , with Rufus . Steinbeck , who wroteTravels with Charley , made the road trip with his standard poodle dog in a motor home truck . I took Rufus home in a rental automobile .
I adjoin Rufus last calendar month at the marvelously dismount family and garden that Michael Bowell shares with Simple , near Malvern , PA .
Rufus exposure by Andrea Bell .
Rufus photo by Andrea Bell.
I continue there for three nights during the workweek I spoke at the Swarthmore College Perennial Conference . The last affair I gestate while there was to become smitten with a puppy .
Rufus is a cute mutt with sterling breeding . Willie , a handsome Jack Russell ( with a hint of beagle ) , is the poppa , and the soft - mannered Mona Mae , a miniature schnauzer , the momma . ( Does this make Rufus a Jack Schneagle ? ) Also running around the house , were brother Skeeter , baby Luella and a pack of sundry other dogs . Rufus , who is now 19 week old , seems astonishingly smart — a trait I ’d not been secluded to with any of my former dog-iron . I emailed photograph to Rose , and she approved the adoption on appearing alone .
The bully gardens and nurseries around Philadelphia are bombinate with innovative pro . I had fantabulous company showing me around the whole week .
Nighttime is the right time at Simple and Michael’s.
Simple take me on a quick spin of “ Michael ’s Land , ” the garden he shares with Michael Bowell , before we direct to Chanticleer . Their home and garden are bursting with festivity day and nighttime . colourful night lighting — in the gardenandhome — is a feature that no one does better than Simple . He has , in addition to his home turf , set up LED lights high in the trees of his friend Bob Yungman and Vince Pompo that stray C of tiny blue dots on the ground as well as in the tree canopy above . “ Oh wow , man ! ” is the common trippy response .
Neon and light-emitting diode have never been in the hand of avisionary artist like Simple ’s . ( A spin on the common laugh might go like this : How many colour do you get when Simple screw in a light bulb ? Answer : How many colors do you need ? )
Nighttime is the right time at Simple and Michael ’s .
Reggie and Buster with Andy and Amy Schenck.
I ca n’t think of a garden , anywhere , so creatively staffed as Chanticleer in Wayne , PA . The formula seems simple ( pun intended ): stack the deck of cards with ambitious and passionate plantspeople , then give them passable resources and ownership of place . If that ’s not the case , then Chanticleer must be a piece of divine providence
Simple and Michael take me to Andy Schenck ’s abode garden at crepuscule one even . Andy and his married woman Amy had adopted Rufus ’s brother Buster the week before . Andy , who is the glasshouse manager at Sam Browns Wholesale Nursery , has a garden packed with rare trees and shrubs . Witch hazelnut tree , hydrangeas , crape myrtles , magnolias , a crying bald cypress , a nanus river birch , on and on — a horticulturist ’s paradise .
Reggie and Buster with Andy and Amy Schenck .
Skeeter with Joe Henderson, David Mattern and Jeff Jabco.
The plantings reminded me of the former days of the J.C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh , NC . J.C. would travel around the nation , picking up rarefied discovery and then planting them in his 10 - acre botanical garden . finally , they ’d outgrow their space , and he ’d receive them a newfangled dwelling house , to make way for more newfangled trees and shrubs .
Andy comes from the J.C. Raulston School of Casting the Net Farther . Andy ’s a very talented and passionate nurseryman ; he knows how to dig trees and shrubs . And when his garden gets full , he ’ll find new dwelling house for some of his babe . ( Note to Andy : did I give you my headphone issue ? )
I spent another two days with nurseryman and mad industrial plant scientist Bill Barnes . Barnes is a psychical descendant of Gregor Mendel . There ’s little in the plant human race that does n’t intrigue Barnes . Rudbeckia , Penstemon , Clematisare on his radio detection and ranging breeding projection screen . And the entire Malvaceae family ( Hibiscuset al ) is an ongoing “ participating challenge . ”
Story meets Rufus.
I swallowed all superbia at Swarthmore ’s Scott Arboretum the next day while Barnes stumped the chump ( me ! ) , asking over and over : “ Ok , tell me what tree this is ? ” ( I had n’t seen the bodaciousEuscaphis japonicasince J.C. Raulston introduced it , following a 1985 Korean outing . I love the crimson germ capsule , but I ’d never imagine the Korean sweetheart tree might grow to 20 feet . )
Though I like there had been more time to visit other area gardens , Chanticleerand theSwarthmore ’s Scott Arboretumare not to be miss . The 425 - acre Swarthmore campus was latterly name themost beautiful free arts collegein the United States .
Skeeter with Joe Henderson , David Mattern and Jeff Jabco .
Rufus meets Penny.
Swarthmore ’s Perennial Conference was striking . I enjoyed the other speakers from beginning to end . The daylong event sold out with 600 attendees .
Rufus rode shotgun on the 14 - time of day drive to Louisville . We pass by Amish Farms flying clothesline hung with clear laundry . Hillsides were dot with orange and yellowish maples , roadsides run along with pinkish and red sumacs .
Rufus and I stretched our legs , and take breaks at residue areas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike . I decamp lunch with Roy Rogers but looked over the book section of the adjacent commodious store . Bonhoeffer : Pastor , Martyr , Prophet , Spywas a little more adventuresome than anything I ’d expect to regain at a Cracker Barrel . On the other hand , the Cracker Barrel’sBeans and Greensbeats a Roy Rogers Roger Bacon cheeseburger , dressed up from theFixin ’s Bar , any twenty-four hour period .
Rufus in the scree garden in Salvisa, KY.
Story satisfy Rufus .
The young doggie has occupy well to Kentucky . Rufus has been with us now for a few lovely autumn hebdomad . He ’s just as much at domicile in the city as he is in the country . He did n’t bat an eye when the leaves on our Louisville bleak gum , Nyssa sylvatica‘Red furore , ’ turned outrageously red . And he disregard a north sloping hillside of paw manus , in nearby Cherokee Park that turned blazing scandalmongering . The first grueling freeze fell on November 1stand did n’t unnerve the untested boy at all .
Rufus meets Penny .
Rufus has been focused , alternatively , on making friends . He is a sociable minuscule thing . He sniffed the other dogs on Cherokee Park ’s Baringer Hill and even met Penny , my girl ’s pot belly out pig . Penny ignored him .
Rufus has been specially odd about the countryside around Salvisa , Kentucky , where we drop a couple of days each week . He ’s alert and cautious to the roar coyotes at night , but during the day he ’s starting to roam farther into the tall grass of the meadow . Rose and I are distressed about his instinct to go down a woodchuck trap and stay for a Clarence Day or two . That ’s what Jack Russells will do .
Rufus in the scree garden in Salvisa , KY .
We ’d rather Rufus stay above land , roll the scree garden and digging around the border among the elephant ears .
I lie with it ’s only a co-occurrence , but Joe Henderson and David Mattern of Chanticleer and Jeff Jabco of the Scott Arboretum ( The Three Dads ) dramatise Skeeter 10 day ago . I am a so happy that Rufus ’s brothers both found practiced home with with child gardener . Any mole problem will be curtly - lived .
